Festival of Lights
by WriterKos
Summary: A strange visitor to NCIS brings to light a terrible crime. Meanwhile, Ziva has got a secret admirer. - Written for the SeSa 2011 at the NFA website. NOW COMPLETE
1. Festival of Lights

_**Title: FESTIVAL OF LIGHTS  
>Genre: Het<br>Characters: Tim, Ziva, and the team  
>Pairings: McGiva forever!<br>Rating: FR18  
>Summary: A strange visitor to NCIS brings to light a terrible crime. Meanwhile, Ziva has got a secret admirer.<strong>_

_**Written for the SeSa 2011 from the NFA website.**_

Must Haves: 1. Timothy McGee, check. 2. A Christmas-themed casefile, check. Uhm, it's a little case file, but it's not about Christmas… 3. Snow, check. 4. McGiva, check.

Warning: This story deals with the aftermath of violence and self-harm, so it might trigger some people. It's never mentioned anywhere, but it's implied. Be warned.

FESTIVAL OF LIGHTS

_"Of this alone, even God is deprived, the power of making things that are past never to have been." Agathon_

_**Chapter 1: Long lost memories**_

The First Blessing

_Baruch ata Adonai, Elohenu melech ha-olam  
>Asher kideshanu be-mitzvosav, ve-tzivanu<em>  
><em>le-hadlikner shel Hanukkah.<em>

_Blessed are you, Lord our G-d, King of the Universe,_  
><em>Who sanctified us by his commandments,<em>  
><em>and has commanded us to kindle the lights of Hanukkah.<em>

As a citizen of the Middle East, born and raised in one of the most inhospitable climates from the face of the earth, Ziva David had rarely seen snow in her childhood time. Israel had a good snow storm only once in each seven years and whenever that happened the whole country would be paralyzed and everyone, either Christian, Muslin or Jewish, would step outside and stare marveled at the delicate snowflakes falling slowly as if dancing in the wind, each one unique, each one perfect, covering their Holy Land with a soft blanket of white.

Schools would be cancelled; shops and government buildings would close down its doors and all would be silent witnesses of such rare phenomena. The streets covered with white would become deserted; only the faint yellow light of strategic placed lamps would illuminate the empty streets giving an ethereal light to its ancient paths.

Ziva could remember clearly only one of such holiday trips with her family, before Mossad, before Tali being murdered, before Ari showed his true colors, before her father had taken her to become his perfect weapon, before her mother died of a broken heart and before her nana was ordered not to visit them anymore as a loving caring relative was not conductive with the training of a Mossad assassin.

Nana had invited them to spend Hanukkah in Jerusalem and thanks to some small miracle it was snowing that year. The hills and the road and everything in between Telaviv and Jerusalem was covered with a faint white blanket. The kids, once freed from their enforced jail time inside the car, jumped out of it and ran to the snow covered sidewalk, giggling like maniacs as they packed up snowballs.

Soon a free for all snowball fight started, the kids' laughter filling the air as they targeted their siblings and cold snow packed balls exploded here and there. The adults observed indulgently, running no interference in their cheerful game as they deserved to unwind a little before getting inside for the first night of the Festival of Lights.

If she closed her eyes, she could still hear Tali's joyful laughter as she aimed and hit Ari on his back, his dark eyes shining as he hid behind a car and started to respond with well placed snow balls hitting both girls who giggled and giggled away.

A couple of weeks later Tali was dead.

Ari was gone to somewhere else she couldn't follow.

And Ziva David was shipped away by her father to start her training for Mossad.

And since then Ziva has refused to light the Menorah candles during Hanukkah.

That is… until now.


	2. A Strange visitor is among us

_**Chapter 2 – A Strange visitor is among us**_

_**Fifth night of Hannukah 2011**_

_**Ma tovu ohalekha Ya'akov, mishk'notekha Yisra'el.**_  
><em><strong>Va'ani b'rov hasd'kha, avo veytekha,<strong>_  
><em><strong>Eshtahaveh el heikhal kodsh'kha b'yir'atekha.<strong>_  
><em><strong>Adonai ahavti m'on beitekha, um-kom mishkan k'vodekha.<strong>_  
><em><strong>Va'ani eshtahave v'ekhra'a.<strong>_  
><em><strong>Evr'kha lifnei Adonai osi.<strong>_  
><em><strong>Va'ani t'filati l'kha Adonai et ratzon.<strong>_  
><em><strong>Elohim b'rov hasdekha aneini b'emet yish'ekha.<strong>_

_**How lovely are your tents, O Jacob, your dwelling places, O Israel!**_  
><em><strong>As for me, O God abounding in grace,<strong>_  
><em><strong>I enter your house to worship with awe in Your sacred place.<strong>_  
><em><strong>I love your house, Eternal One, the dwelling-place of Your glory;<strong>_  
><em><strong>humbly I worship You, humbly I seek blessing from God my Maker.<strong>_  
><em><strong>To You, Eternal One, goes my prayer: may this be a time of your favor.<strong>_  
><em><strong>In Your great love, O God, answer me with Your saving truth.<strong>_

The ringing of the phone echoed in the empty bullpen, making the only agent in the room glare at the offending piece aggravated. The silver haired man tapped his pen pensively on the desktop, looking around seeking any sign of his wayward agents, but none were to be seen. Ziva and Tony were at the Evidence locker retrieving a few items that should be reviewed before their court meeting next week, while McGee was downstairs with Abby trying to pierce together the computer casing of a blown up desktop from Team B's case.

With a sigh, Special Agent Leroy Jethro Gibbs takes his phone and pushes a button, rerouting the call to McGee's desk to his own.

"Gibbs."

He listens distractedly for a moment, before immediately becoming alert.

"Are you sure that's what the boy's said?"

Another pause as whoever is there keeps talking, and Gibbs's eyebrows slowly climb up on his forehead, almost reaching his hair line as he stares blankly ahead, trying to make sense of what he's being told.

"I see. Send him up, I'll talk to him. McGee is not here right now but I'll try to figure out what this is all about."

Gibbs put the phone down at the exact moment Ziva and Tony come back chatting animatedly about some movie. He looks at them with a small smile, glad that the normal banter between his agents was back after a few tense weeks, specially after that idiotic prank Tony pulled at McGee and Ziva with lights and sirens on their desks.

The maintenance crew was still finding confetti out of the corners of the bullpen until today.

"Ziva, come on. Are you telling me that you haven's seen_ 'How the Grinch stole Christma_s'? It's a classic Christmas movie, along with the _'Miracle in the 34th street'_. Then you have those with the Culkin kid and its sequels. _Home alone_ one, two and three. The third is crappy, but I really like the first one, specially the scene with the pizza boy."

Ziva rolls her eyes at Tony, sits on her desk and takes the chance to glare at Tony, who is just taking a new breath to keep on with his monologue valiantly trying to convince her to participate on a movie marathon.

"I'm Jewish. I do not celebrate Christmas. At least not with the same enthusiasm you do. And I refuse to be go to your home to watch a bunch of cheesy holiday movies one after the other."

Tony pouted, trying to make her feel guilty to force her to accept his invitation. "But… it's _Christmas_. It's what this season is about. Cheesy movies. Huge dinners. Gifts exchanges and being huddled under blankets watching the fire burning while snow is roaring outside. It will be cool and I can guarantee you, my popcorn is the best in town."

Ziva opened her first drawer and a beautiful wrapped parcel caught Tony's eyes, making him smirk.

"But of course, you prefer to dwell on the mystery of your secret admirer…"

Ziva's glare was almost enough to reduce Tony to cinders.

"He is not a secret admirer." Ziva growled, before gently taking the gift from the drawer and delicately touching the festive paper as she carefully unwrapped the parcel while a soft smile appeared on her face. "And I am not even sure if it's a _he_. I only know that I have someone who is aware of my people's traditions and he is honoring the Jewish rule of giving gifts on each day of Hanukkah."

Tony rolled his eyes, "Come on, that's so unfair. Why do you guys get gifts for eight days while we only get it on Christmas?"

"Well, because we have eight festive days instead of only one."

Tony leaned over her table, trying to peer into what was in her hand as she unwrapped the latest gift her _'admirer'_.

Since the first day of Hanukkah this year, little parcels were appearing on Ziva's desk.

One for each day.

Each with a little blessing in Hebrew and a small Hanukkah candle.

She at first was irritated, as she hadn't celebrated that particular part of her legacy for years, but whoever was leaving her gifts had done an extensive research on the _Festival of Lights_.

The first gift had been a sterling silver Mezuzah pendant with a complete readable scroll set inside a sealed tube. A veritable work of art and a very Jewish gift even for herself, a child from one of the most traditional families in Israel.

After a lot of teasing both from Tony and McGee, she simply put the box in her drawer and tried to ignore it.

But the second day of Hanukkah brought another gift: a small box overflowing with tasteful Happy Hanukkah cookies, glazed in white and blue and cut in Star of David shapes. It was cute and sweet and … it was impossible to stay mad at.

From the third day on, she was already waiting anxiously for whatever was left on her table for the time she would arrive. Tony even tried to convince her to stalk the bullpen so they could figure out who was leaving her the gifts, but she decided to enjoy the mystery for a while.

Since then, she had received a _dreidel_ gift box in four assorted colors, a star shaped Jewelry box with a menorah appliquéd on top and today she had arrived to find a beautiful ceramic Hanukkah celebration keepsake box carefully wrapped waiting for her.

She was just happy that someone took the time to research what Hanukkah was and had the care to have ordered things on advance for this surprise, as those particular boxes were from a famous Israeli gift designer who sold her wares through a website, having her goods shipped directly from Israel.

Tony kept pestering her, but she carefully tuned him out as she smiled at the latest gift in her hands.

The ding of the elevator announced the entrance of the visitor that Gibbs was expecting, distracting him from the bickering of his agents and his initial intention of sorting out headslaps freely for them. Gibbs stood up to look at the visitor being escorted into the bullpen by a security guard, who was trying his best to hide his small smirk as he approached Gibbs' desk.

Gibbs used the best of his abilities to keep his face unreadable as he observed the short kid walking towards him. Finally he understood the amusement on the security guard's voice on the phone when he contacted him.

The kid was short, stocky, with a round plump face framed with straight black hair in the same silly hair cut that blond kid singer was in the TV last week, which always made Gibbs feel the urge of finding the nearest comb and fix it.

Immediately.

Or maybe shave it away.

He was wearing a T-shirt of a band that probably Abby had heard of or bought one of their CDs, and his plaid trousers could possible be worn in a size or two smaller. Probably then they would be a good fit on the kid's waist, not dragging down and showing a hint of his underwear. But at least the kid jacket's was thick enough to keep him warm against the bitter wind blowing outside.

The kid was guided by the guard's hand on his shoulder, until both are before Gibbs's desk in a few moments.

"Agent Gibbs, as I've told you on the phone, this is Jordan McGee. He identified himself as Agent McGee's _son_."

"Uhm…" Gibbs hummed as he looked down to the boy who had to look up to face the taller man, blinking repeated behind his white rimmed glasses showing intelligence and cunningness in his green eyes.

"McGee's _son_, right?"

"Yes, sir. Is my dad around? He told me that I should drop by today so I could bring him something he's forgotten at my mom's place." Jordan said in a polite voice, trying to keep it steady but not able to hide his nervousness in it.

Gibbs narrowed his eyes to the boy, who was obviously lying through his teeth but refused to back down, staring him in the eye without flinching. Weaker men had folded under Gibbs' stare, so he was willing to give the kid a break.

The kid had balls. Especially if he was brave enough to lie to a Federal Agent without even breaking into a sweat.

Gibbs chanced a quick look to Tony and Ziva, who were just frozen on the spots they were standing, gaping at the kid as if he had sprung horns. Gibbs could almost guess that Tony was looking at the kid before him, flipping through a mental catalogue of women he had seen McGee dating and trying to find one who could possibly be that boy's mother.

But unless Agent Timothy McGee has been leading a secret life away from NCIS, there was no way that kid was his.

But as a good investigator, Gibbs was willing to verify the kid's story. So he was going to give him enough rope and hopefully the kid would hang himself… or at least reveal his intentions.

Gibbs signaled to the guard that he could go and once alone with the kid he pointed to McGee's empty desk.

"That's your dad's desk. Take a seat and I'll call him up for you."

Jordan smiled thinly and, with his hands firmly grasping his Transformer's backpack, went to the younger agent's desk and silently sat down at it, looking curiously at the objects on its polished surface.

Tony finally was able to tone down his surprise enough to move towards his own desk, his eyes never leaving the boy who initially ignored the blatant stares of the older man, before throwing shy glances at him.

"Gibbs, were you aware of that…" Ziva started asking, just to be interrupted by Gibbs.

"Nope."

"And what are you…?"

"I'm about to find out, Ziva." Gibbs muttered as he grabbed the phone and dialed Abby's Lab. His Goth answered on the second ring.

"Abby's Labby."

"Is McGee in there?"

NICS NCIS NCIS NCIS

Abby looked towards the other room of her lab, where McGee was hunched over a destroyed casing using a lantern to study its interior.

"Yes. Do you need him upstairs?"

Abby's tone of voice made McGee look up from his task, silently questioning her what was up.

"Please tell him that his _son_ is at the bullpen waiting for him at his desk. He'd better come up immediately."

Abby's gasp was exactly what Gibbs expected to hear. That meant that she wasn't aware of McGee's little secret. And if she wasn't aware, she would certainly torture the young man until he folded and told her everything. The complete unabridged version.

Downstairs, Abby narrowed her eyes and glared at McGee, who immediately recoiled from the intensity in her green eyes, unaware of what he could possibly have done to warrant that glare towards him.

"Give us one minute, and he will be there." Abby disconnected, walking towards the younger agent with hard steps, her boots clacking against the floor loudly.

"Timothy McGee! You have a lot to explain, young man." She growled as soon as she entered the room he was, angry at him for hiding such MOAS.

He kept staring at her blankly, totally confused.

"What did I do?"

NCIS NCIS NCIS NCIS

Upstairs, Gibbs simply grinned and sat down, putting down the phone and just waiting for the fireworks to reach the bullpen in a few seconds. He chanced a glance at the boy, who was sitting forlornly at McGee's desk, his gaze troubled as he blinked at the family photos near the organizer.

There was a mystery in there and he was waiting anxiously to unveil it.


	3. Elflord's son

**_a/n: I'm very glad to see such a good response for this little Hanukkah tale. Many new faces adding this for their story alerts. A Hi to all new readers! _**

**_Reviews are highly appreciated._**

* * *

><p><strong><em>Chapter 3: Elflord's son<em>**

Tony couldn't keep his curiosity in check anymore, so he stood up and approached the chubby boy silently playing games on his cell phone. Ziva glared at him and made throat cutting motions with her hand, indicating that she would definitely cut him into pieces if he said anything inappropriate.

Tony simply shrugged and stood from his chair, running a hand over his jacket to smooth it before approaching the boy. He felt Gibbs' gaze on him but his curiosity wouldn't be stopped by the Boss. This was a juicy tidbit of information, and he was willing to bleed it dry just to have enough ammunition to use as his unique brand of torture.

"So…"

The boy, who couldn't be older than twelve, looked up from his cell phone where he was playing _Angry Birds _to look at the tall agent hovering on his side.

"You're Tim's kid, uhm?"

"…"

"I bet he's a great dad."

The boy shrugged, not willing to reveal anything.

"Tell me," Tony touched his own ear lightly, seeing that the boy was trying very hard to ignore him. "Is he a nice daddy? Like… I mean, I know he works a lot, but I'm sure he is the kind of man who tries to find time to stay …"

The boy sighed and turned his attention back to the game, effectively ignoring Tony.

"Abby, I do not have a son. I assure you… what…" McGee's voice echoed in the air as he came in hurried steps towards his own desk, followed by a distraught Abby, stopping abruptly before it as he stared at the boy sitting there as if he owned the place. In the space of few seconds, he took in the plump round face with green intelligent eyes, hidden behind frames, the typical teenager clothing and the boy's apparent lack of fear as he stared back at McGee.

The boy looked him up and down, studying him as curiously as he was being studied.

"Who are you? I don't have kids. I've never had kids and I would certainly know if I had one your age." McGee's question was direct, obviously deeply shaken by the appearance of the boy.

Regardless of how much he tried, McGee couldn't find anyone who could have been the boy's mother. His features didn't strike any familiarity; he must be in his early teens, between ten to twelve, and the young agent wasn't in any type of serious relationship back then that could have resulted in such child.

So who was that kid?


	4. Elflord's son true story

**_Chapter 4: Elflord's son true story_**

The boy didn't even blink. He studied McGee from behind his glasses and leaned his head to the side, as if measuring him up. For what, it was anyone's guess.

"Are you _Elflord978_ at the _War of Empires_ game?"

That question made McGee pause for a moment. He frowned, staring at the kid with new eyes.

"McGee, I've told you before you should stop spending so much time online. You should…" Tony grinned, immediately taking the chance to tease his teammate for his geeky ways.

But McGee saw something that made him pause in the boy's eyes, so he ignored the teasing and approached the boy with care.

"Shut up Tony." To the boy, he said, "Yes, I am. Why? Who are you?"

The boy fidgeted a little on the seat, bringing a hand to rub one of his ears before glancing up at McGee again.

"I'm _LoneStar777_. We've met online before." The boy said in a low voice, his eyes lowered to the cell phone still showing the red and yellow angry birds waiting to be thrown across the screen.

A light came on in McGee's head. He knew the kid. At least, he knew something about the kid. "Ah… yes… you've actually beaten my record last week."

"Yep." The boy said it forlornly, not meeting McGee's gaze.

"But what are you doing here? How did you find me and why did you lie to see me? That could land you in serious trouble."

The boy put his cell phone back into his backpack, before sitting back on the chair and studying the older man with troubled eyes. He chewed his lower lip, obviously unsure of what he was supposed to say.

"You've said you were a cop. A _good_ cop. And if I ever found trouble I should look for a good cop."

Jordan's tone of voice immediately made McGee's senses tingle, aware that something serious must have happened to prompt such drastic actions from such kid. It couldn't have been easy to track down another player online.

"Yes. I'm a good cop." He took a chair from a nearby cubicle and brought it so he could sit in front of Jordan, who was still staring at his hands refusing to meet McGee's eyes. "Are you in trouble, Jordan?"

The boy bit nervously his lips, chancing a glance at Gibbs before his gaze landed on McGee's worried face. He gestured with his head to the senior agent, whose attention was fixed in the little drama happening before his eyes.

"Is he your supervisor? And is he a _good_ cop too?"

Gibbs took a few steps and stopped before McGee's desk, silently ordering the boy to look up at him. As if sensing the order, Jordan looked up and gulped under Gibbs' stare, but he wasn't leaving until saying what he needed to say, so he endured the stare contest without backing down. That alone was enough to gain Gibbs' respect, so he nodded slowly to the boy, now interested to hear what that was all about.

As if sensing the little exchange between the boy and the man, McGee was especially gentle when he spoke again to Jordan.

"Yes, he's a good cop. One of the best I've ever met. Why do you need a good cop, Jordan?"

Finally Jordan turned to McGee, his desperation showing in his eyes as he spoke in clipped sentences, slowly loosing his control.

"I need help. And I had no idea of who I could trust. And even then, I thought people wouldn't believe me if I've told. Then I remembered you from the game, and I started looking for you."

"But I've logged on with a nickname. How did you find me?"

The boy shrugged, "It wasn't that hard. I've just had to track the credit card that you used to buy more credits. Then I had your full name and I googled you. According to the_ Freedom of Information Act_ all federal employees are listed."

McGee felt rather than saw Gibbs' heated glare on his back, but he kept questioning the boy as he could see that there was more to his story.

"That could have landed you in a lot of trouble, but for some reason I don't think that's the reason why you're here."

The boy shook his head minutely, his gaze landing on his backpack.

"I've screwed up."

"What have you screw up, Jordan?" Gibbs asked, seeing that the boy was losing his hold on his nerves, and he was starting to shake slightly.

The boy looked up at Gibbs, and for the first time Gibbs could see fear in those green eyes.

"I didn't know what they were doing. No one was supposed to get hurt. I swear."

Gibbs asked. "Who has gotten hurt, Jordan? What are you talking about?"

The boy sniffed lightly, shrugging before pouring out in short burst of speech. "_I didn't know!_ I swear! All I had to do was the design of a website. I didn't know! I didn't."

"Hey, Hey. Calm down. What didn't you know?" McGee asked in a controlled voice, his hands trying to reach the boy's shoulders to force him to look into his eyes, but the boy shrugged him away, refusing to be touched by the agent.

Jordan sniffed. "The top seven of my school asked me to make the bare bones of a website. The HTML codes and javascript, coding, you know."

_So the boy was into computers. That explained his affinity with me and how he could have tracked me,_ McGee thought. "Yes. What happened then?"

"They… they…" The boy blushed and looked down, but McGee wasn't about to let him go that easily.

"Jordan." There was a question in McGee's tone of voice.

The boy leaned towards McGee. "They put … uhm… pictures on it." The boy's blush became deeper.

"What kind of pictures?"

The boy bit his lip, blushing all the way to his ears. Tony dragged his chair closer to the two of them, his imagination already working wildly on theories.

"Did they put porn on it?" Tony ventured to ask, and all agents were surprised by the boy's reaction.

_"She didn't want to do it!_ She was my friend. I didn't know they were going to hurt her!" The boy's explosion was too much, making him finally crash. He burst into sobs and hid his face on his hands, his plumpy hands hiding his face but not the tears spilling from his eyes.

McGee's got worried with the boy, touching him lightly on his shoulder, afraid that he would bolt. The boy, overwhelmed by his emotions, jumped and made the chair he had been sitting crash loudly behind himself. He started screaming at the top of his lungs, all control gone.

"They've made a smear campaign against Josie just because she started dating Will Pierce. He used to date Marcie, the main cheerleader of our High School. So they've arranged a… blind date with this other guy, a senior, and the guy… he's took pictures! He's hurt her! And they've put online. And she… Josie… when she's found out… _She's freaked out!_ She's… tried to…to…!_ I didn't know!_" The boy was in hysterics now, his whole body shaking, unable to say out loud the act his friend committed when her privacy felt violated.

McGee hesitated for a second, before standing up and taking the boy in his arms, fully expecting the boy to refuse his hug but the boy clung to him, hiding his face on McGee's chest and sobbing, his whole body shaking.

The agent looked at Gibbs, unsure of what would be the marine's take on the situation. As he had expected, Gibbs was silently simmering with fury, angry at whoever had had dared to hurt that kid they had not even met, in a cruel joke that caused her to attempt against her own life. But he was also worried about the boy who was being slowly consumed by guilt, for a crime he felt indirectly responsible.

"If a crime been committed at his school, McGee, we must inform the Metro so they may take the necessary steps to investigate it." Gibbs said softly aware that the boy's deep despair and his connection to McGee, even if feeble, weren't enough to overcome the problem of bureaucracy.

McGee glanced at Abby, Tony and Ziva, seeing the same concerned expressions on their faces.

"It's not our jurisdiction, McGee." Tony muttered, aware of the brokenhearted sobs of the young boy echoing in the bullpen.

Jordan muttered something between hiccups, making McGee take a step back so he could hear it.

"What did you say?"

"I said," hiccup. "Josie's father is…" Hiccup. Hiccup. "… in Afghanistan. Gunnery Sergeant." He looked up hopeful at Gibbs, fisting his red eyes while he asked hopefully. "Could please help her?"


	5. The internet is forever

**_Chapter 5: The internet is forever_**

"Abs, what do you have?" Gibbs asked as soon as he stepped into the Goth's sanctuary. He froze for a second, looking around trying to figure out what was wrong with that place.

Holiday decorations, check.

CaffPow on the table, check.

Music... _music_?

Gibbs leaned his head, looking at Abby who was before her desktop biting her lip with a miserable look on her face, as if she had been crying.

There was no music playing in her lab.

"Abs?"

"Gibbs, how people can be so cruel?"

She ran to him and hugged him tightly, hiding her face on his chest. "I mean, I know they can be, but these are teenagers. They are so young and … so mean!" She whined, before leaving the safety of his arms and going back to her computers.

"What have you found?"

Abby put a website on the screen, "This is the website that Jordan created the basic structure. He's actually quite good with coding, he could learn a little with McGee and with me though." Gibbs narrowed his eyes to the catchy picture on the screen, showing a young teenager in a cute princess dress, which complimented her pale skin, black hair and blue eyes.

She must have been using a Halloween costume, and the website was even more emphatic about the theme. It had the picture of the girl in the woods, at the beginning of a path, and there was a very catchy phrase on top of it.

_"Wanna see what happens to Snow White when she meets the Bad Wolf?"_

Whatever was in it, it couldn't end well.

"Have you checked its content?"

"Yes, and that's something I'll gladly not do again."

"What can you tell me about it."

Abby sighed as she turned to her desktop, typing away on it. "Basically it's a story with pictures. But it's more a horror tale than anything else. In it, _Snow White_, who is actually," Abby pulls the picture of the girl without the costume, smiling to the camera, " Josie Lee Edwards, a junior on Jordan's High School, meets _Bad Wolf,_ none other than," Abby touches her keypad and another picture appears, this one of a smiling handsome older teenager, "Stephen Harrison, Senior and Football star from the same school. In this date, after a romantic dinner at a local teenager hangout, Stephen decided to make his move. Despite her saying she doesn't want anything further he… well, he doesn't takes no for an answer if you get my drift."

Gibbs turns to Abby, going to stand by her side as she goes to another page on the computer.

"And the bastard took pictures of it."

"Not of the act itself, but he took pictures of her before and after, telling that if she opened her mouth to anyone he would make her life hell." Abby said, clicking something on the screen and showing it to Gibbs.

Gibbs growled at whatever he saw, eager to find that creep and beat him up. But Abby wasn't done yet. "She apparently kept her end of the deal but he didn't. My analysis of the images points that the pictures were taken three months ago, so she hid this for a long time, as there's no medical reports or any complaint against Harrison anywhere. But the website has been online just for two weeks and it has already reached the two million hit mark."

Gibbs turned to her, "Two million?"

Abby shrugged, turning to her desktop, "Bad news run fast in the internet, Gibbs. But that's just the bad news."

Gibbs closed his eyes, getting ready for more. "There's worse than this?"

Abby nodded, her pony tails moving in the air. "The bastard published her personal mobile number, inviting people to call her and to text her to tell their opinion on the story. And they've been doing it nonstop since the website went online."

Gibbs opened his eyes and looked confused at her at first, trying to understand what she was saying. "Abs?"

"Gibbs," Abby grabbed Gibbs shoulders and shook him a little, showing her seriousness at the situation, "I've tracked Josie's mobile records; she has been receiving hate texts since this nightmare has begun. One each three seconds. That's twenty messages per minute, twelve hundred per hour, seventy two thousand messages a day. She was drowning on hate and despair and that's… well… why she tried to hurt herself."


	6. Visitors

**_Chapter 6: Visitors_**

McGee, Ziva, Tony and Jordan came out of the car and stood before the simple yellow house in a quite street twenty minutes away from NCIS. Surprisingly so, Jordan actually studied and lived in the neighborhood across the river from their offices, so they agreed to take the young boy home and interview the young Josie as well.

"Is this where you live?" Ziva asked Jordan, her hand on his shoulder in a simple offer of support, as the boy had been very brave until then.

"No, I live just next door. Josie lives here." He said rubbing the point of his right shoes in the fresh snow. He looked up at Ziva, his green eyes shining with unshed tears.

"Do you think your Boss can help her? I've tried to talk to her at the hospital but her mom hasn't allowed me in, she thinks that I'm behind all this because Josie remembers the girls talking to me asking to prepare the website. I even showed Josie my project, without the text and the pictures, but I truly believed when they've said that it was going to be a new RPG story. When she saw it for the first time she recognized it, and she came to my home. She screamed and even slapped me, telling me that she hated me." At that point, Jordan had already lost the battle with his emotions, sobbing lightly as he remembered Josie's pain filled eyes throwing daggers at him. "Two days later she… her mom took her to the hospital, and I haven't seen her since."

"Jordan," McGee came to the boy's side, kneeling on the snow so he could be the same height. "It's not your fault. We're going to investigate this and we will punish the people behind this, okay?"

McGee's gentle words calmed the boy, who looked longingly to the yellow house before glancing to his own home. McGee noticed the boy's glance, and pointed to the house with his head. "I think you should go inside and let us take it from here; you've been enough help already."

"You think so?" The boy perked up at that.

Ziva nodded lightly, glad to see something other than despair on the boy's face. "Sure, it took a great deal of determination to look up McGee's identity and an even greater courage to seek him out, thus exposing your unwilling participation in all this. You were not even sure that he would believe your story, were you?"

The boy bit his lip and shook his head.

Ziva smiled and leaned forward, her eyes piercing the boy as he danced on his feet, trying to get warm on the bitter wind. "That is a sign of great courage, Jordan. And also a sharp imagination as you came up with a story that would certainly pick our attention, enough to make us call you up and interrogate you."

The boy blushed brightly under her praise, and chanced a glance again towards his own home. He saw movement behind the curtains of his home, and grimaced. "Mom's back from work. I've gotta go. She thinks I've spent the afternoon on my Spanish lessons."

"Go, we don't want to land you on trouble for trying to help your friend," Tony said, waving towards the house. "Just tell your mom we will drop by later to talk to her too."

Jordan grinned, showing his dimples and for the first time he looked like the young boy he was, not the scared kid bent under the burden of guilt they've met in the bullpen a couple of hours earlier.

He waved at the agents and started to daringly brave the snow covered sidewalks towards his home. Once he reached the steps leading to the balcony, the screen door opened and a woman in a thick jacked came out, escorting the boy inside. She turned to look at the agents a few yards away, and even from the significant distance they could see that Jordan had inherited the same hair and eyes.

Tony waved half heartedly, but he was ignored by the woman who slammed the screen door shut, effectively leaving the agents alone in the street. There was no sound of cars in the air and the snow covered all horizontal surfaces.

The agents sighed and started to walk towards the yellow house, noticing the burnt lights on the porch and the general state of disrepair of the frontyard.

"These people haven't spent time on their front yard for a long long time," Tony said as he approached the door. McGee took the front and opened the screen door, knocking heavily on the door slowly peeling its paint.

As they got no response, despite Jordan's claims that Josie and her mother should be at home, Ziva took a step forward and knocked again on the door, this time harder than McGee.

They noticed some movement behind the curtain of the window, and finally a small pale woman with black and pepper hair appeared on the door, her scowl loudly announcing that visitors weren't welcome.

"What do you want?"

"Mrs. Edwards?" Tony asked. Upon her silent nod, "We would like to talk to your daughter, Josie Lee."

Mrs. Edwards narrowed her eyes to slits, "Josie is not receiving visitors. Go away."

She started to close the door, just to be stopped by Ziva's booted foot strategically placed to stop the door. She glared at the offending foot, before looking up staring daggers at them. Without hesitation all three agents showed their NCIS ids, fact that immediately made the woman to open her eyes wider.

"I assure you she will want to talk to us." McGee said resolute.


	7. What a mom knows

**_Chapter 7: What a mom knows…_**

The three agents spent some time talking with Mrs. Edwards, who after a great deal of hostility finally sagged on the sofa and started to pour her side of the story. Between sobs and sniffs the agents heard the sorry tale, each stealing glances down the corridor that they knew the terrorized teenager laid.

"I don't know what to say to her father. What will he think? I had no idea that had happened, and when she… when I've found her… this has destroyed our family." She cried on the small handkerchief Tony gave her.

"It will only destroy you and your family if you allow it to happen," Ziva said, looking around and seeing that, despite the mild state of disrepair of the house, there were several pictures of Josie in her school uniform or in soccer uniform, always smiling.

The dark times were a recent thing; there had been moments of happiness in that house. They just had to find their way out of the dark place they were right now.

"Ma'am, what about Josie's boyfriend. I think his name is…" McGee looked down to his notes, finding the info he was looking for. "Pierce. Will Pierce."

"Ah… that little rat disappeared as soon as the website went online. My Josie called and called him, trying to explain what happened… but his affections were not true. He bailed out and left her hanging. And… that night, it was then that she…"

Mrs. Edwards couldn't continue. The agents kept silent out of respect of her pain, as she struggled to rein in her emotions. After her latest bout of crying ended, she looked at them embarrassed, "Sorry, it's been a hard time for us."

"It's understandable. Ma'am, if you don't mind me asking, may I speak to Josie?" McGee asked, seeing a flash of uncertainty on the young girl's mother's face before she threw a worried glance towards the corridor.

"Don't you think it's too soon to interrogate her? I've brought her home from the hospital only yesterday. I know I should have left her longer there but I couldn't let my baby during Christmas time at the hospital. It's too depressing. I…"

"Ma'am, let me talk to her." McGee stood up, shooting a glance to Tony and Ziva who would stay with the mother to question her further. Tony silently gestured that he should go, so McGee, once he had the agreement of the mother, slowly went down to the corridor so he could finally meet Jordan's friend.

As he walked down the corridor, he saw several pictures of Josie hugging a smiling black haired man in dusty camouflage uniform.

_It must be her father,_ McGee thought. _Christmas time and her marine father was God knows where while she is going through the crisis of her life. Poor thing, she must be feeling like the world has ended._

He stopped before a room where a small wreath of holy was hanging, a small festive memento of the preparations for Christmas that ended abruptly with the girl's desperate cry for her help. After a deep breath, he knocked on the door but received no answer.

"Josie, my name is Timothy McGee. I'm a friend of Jordan's, he's asked me to come to talk to you." McGee said to the door, expecting to get some reaction from the girl.

"GO AWAY." Josie's shout wasn't exactly what he was expecting, but it was better than sullen silence..

"We need to talk. I'm coming in, okay." He slowly turned the knob, entering a typical teenager's bedroom, which for a moment reminded him Sarah's bedroom not too long ago. But the messed up bed with a duvet covered body of a young female was incongruent with the soccer trophies and smiling pictures on the walls.

Josie fidgeted under the duvet, turning her back to the intruder of her sanctuary, trying to effectively shut him down. Not to be intimidated by her tactics, McGee took the chair by the writing table and moved it closer to her side, so he could be at least in her eyesight, just in case she suddenly decides to rejoin the world of living.

He stayed quiet for a while, organizing his thoughts so he had to hold his smile when Josie took a peek from under the duvet, lifting its edge to look at him with red rimmed eyes.

"Who are you?"

"I've told you, I'm Timothy, friend of Jordan's."

"Go away, don't wanna talk to you." She tried to cover her head again, but McGee took his NCIS Id and showed it to her, which froze her on the spot.

"I think you will."

After Josie's sullen silence, McGee insisted. "Listen, Josie. Jordan is really worried about you."

"No, he's not. He's just like the others. He helped them."

"I happen to disagree. He tracked me down so I could help you. You see, me and my team, we are Federal Agents. And after hearing your tale, we've decided to look into it and we're not going to rest until all involved are duly punished to the fullest extent of the law."

"It's not going to work. Nothing is going to happen to them. And why would you care about what happens to me? No one else does. Even my mom has no idea how to deal with me. The doctors wanted to keep me in suicide watch until New Years, but … I don't think I can go on, it's too much." She started to cry, rubbing her face on one of her many pillows, her black hair making a mess against the white sheets.

McGee leaned forward a little, his elbows resting on his knees as he looked at the girl and spoke in his most serious tone of voice. "Josie, what they've done is a crime. And I assure you, your life is not over. You're a fighter. You will survive. Life is not limited to high school. You will grow up and put this people behind, and you will probably never see them again, they will just be a bitter memory in your mind."

"Easy for you to say, Mr. NCIS. They've destroyed my LIFE!" She sat down, glaring at McGee with the first emotion on her face besides surliness and despair. "They've first mocked me, then they badmouthed me and then… They've created that website! Nothing will ever be the same for me." She sobbed and covered her head with her duvet, landing hard on her back as she threw her body back to her bed.

"Josie, look at me."

After some seconds, Josie's face peeked from under the duvet, her blue eyes fixed on McGee's face.

"You will get through this." The certainty in his voice surprised Josie, who moved the duvet away and stared at the agent, her gaze unsure.

"How can you be so sure of that?"

McGee sighed, "Because if you really wanted die you wouldn't have failed. You would have chosen something different from a sleeping pill overdose. You were just trying to reach out for help. And people have heard you this time. Your mom's heard you, gosh, Jordan is ripping his hair out worried about you."

"But he helped them."

"No,_ he was deceived by them_, just like you were. Wanna know what lengths he went so he could find someone to help you? He's met me several times online, as we both are top players in a multiplayer game. We spoke a couple of times and I happened to mention that I was a cop. Once he saw you were in trouble, he tracked me down, breaking several laws and went into my office, demanding to see me."

"Really?" A tiny smile appeared in Josie's face, giving a little hope to McGee that he was being able to reach her out.

"Yes, and you wanna know why? Because he was worried about you. He can't go on feeling responsible for what happened to you, so he would do whatever he must do to find someone to help you. And he did. So here we are. We have enough evidence to wrap this case up, but we would like to get your testimony, just to make it airtight. They will pay for what they've done, Josie. They won't get away with this."

"But… but… how?"

"Just listen to me: We're going to do the following…" He leaned forward, and the girl listened to him attentively, nodding here and there.


	8. Wrapping up

**_Chapter 8: Wrapping up_**

Thanks to Josie's testimony, Abby's evidence lifted from the top seven's computers and a nice tidy confession Gibbs squeezed out from the boy 'Bad Wolf' Harrison, the MCRT found themselves closing their case two days later, with a signed confession by the _don juan_ wannabe and his seven minions from hell.

After all, it didn't matter that Josie hadn't effectively ended her life. By all means, the intent of their smear campaign was clear: they wanted to torture the girl emotionally and psychologically until she broke down. Only Josie's mom and Jordan's intervention had prevented a greater tragedy for that family that Christmas. Once presented the case the DA was merciless in ripping neat little ones on the seven cheerleaders and Harrison, verbally cutting them into pieces with the usual restlessness she was well known for.

For once, Gibbs was happy that they were back into the bullpen, putting the last dots on the i and crossing the last t of their reports. He chanced a look up from his paperwork to find his agents diligently working on their desks, each doing their reports as fast as possible to finish that day and enjoy the three days off they had been granted by the director. He took a glance to Ziva and found her longingly looking to the card left on her table that morning, a soft smile on her lips as she distractedly touched the festive paper, her thoughts never far away from the mysterious admirer she had gathered that week.

Gibbs' gaze moved to his second in comand and he barely contained a smirk as found Tony totally focused not on his paperwork, but on his computer game he was trying to reach the next level. He could try to fool Gibbs but the old marine was too smart to fall for that.

Gibbs then glanced at McGee, finding the young man typing diligently his report, but here and there he would throw glances at Ziva and his lips would curve slightly up whenever he saw her gently touching the card.

_Uhm…_

Gibbs finally finished his report a couple of hours later and started shutting down his station, receiving surprised glances from his agents as he started packing up his things forty minutes earlier than their official quitting time so he could leave.

"Uhm.. Boss?" McGee ventured to ask, while Tony and Ziva simply looked at him waiting for his next order.

"Merry Christmas, folks, see you after the holidays. Turn off the lights when you get out, will ya?" With his coat in hand, he started walking towards the elevators, but he couldn't resist pulling Ziva's leg a little. "Ziver, enjoy your last night of Hanukkah."

"Thanks, Gibbs." Ziva said slowly, still trying to figure out what was Gibbs doing.

Gibbs boarded the elevator and pushed the down button, but he still heard Tony's voice echoing in the bullpen, his confusion evident in his tone.

"Did he really pack up and just left?"

_Ah, it is so good to mess up with their heads,_ Gibbs thought.

The elevator doors closed, effectively shutting the sounds of the bullpen out.


	9. A new tradition to be celebrated

**_Chapter 09: A new tradition to be celebrated_**

Ziva finished the last touches on the Hanukkah table an hour before nightfall, thankful for Gibbs allowing them to leave early so she could silently celebrate that long lost tradition. That whole week had been difficult but they had been able to wrap up their case, punish the ones who had dared to hurt the innocents and try to make things right for a small family that Christmas.

She sighed out loud as she imagined the difficulties the New Year would bring to her teammates' lives, but she was glad that she was alive and well to share another bright year with her colleagues.

And this end of the year had become even more special thanks to her special friend who had delighted her with tiny gifts for each Hanukkah day.

Instead of a gift, for this last day there was just a Christmas card on her desk. In it, a small message filled with promise, that made her feel warm inside, eager to finally talk to her secret gift-giver.

_"See you at your home before nightfall for the kindling of the eighth candle."_

No signature on the card, just those simple words which brought trepidation to Ziva's heart as she looked around her living room, checking if everything was in its place before her visitor's arrival. She finally went to the window facing her street, looking down trying to identify whoever was coming to her home for that little celebration.

She smiled at who she was seeing, and simply perched herself behind her curtains and watched for a while.

Ten minutes, twenty minutes were gone and no movement downstairs. Ziva sighed as she checked her watch again, glanced at the car parked in her street and finally decided to take matters in her own hands. She stood up and went to her phone, dialing a phone number she knew by heart.

She heard it ring once, twice, before a familiar voice answered it.

"McGee speaking."

"Are you coming up or not?"

"Uhm… Ziva?"

"Yes," She went to the window and looked down to the car parked on the street, finding his surprised face upturned looking at her window from the parked car across the street. "You've been cooling your heels for over twenty minutes in there trying to figure out if you should come up or not. Hurry up, we need to light the Menorah as soon as the night falls."

"Ah… oh… okay. Give me a moment and I'll be there."

They disconnected and Ziva was surprised to find herself humming as she fixed a decoration here and there on her mantle, enjoying the joyful display of pictures on it. There were pictures of the team, Gibbs, Abby's Hippo and even one of Palmer in scrubs. Her own dysfunctional NCIS family.

She smiled at that thought and looked up as a timid knock was heard at her door.

In hurried steps she approached the door, opening it to find McGee in his thick winter coat standing there, rolling on the balls of his feet, an adorable confused look on his face and a brown paper bag carefully held in his hands.

"Was it that difficult to come upstairs?"

McGee frowned at her, biting his lower lip. "How did you figure it out?"

Ziva grabbed his arm and dragged him inside, closing the door after him. "Please, I'm an investigator. I investigate things for a living. But thanks anyway, it was very sweet of you of buying all these gifts for me."

"Ah… it wasn't sweet. It was a very well planned move." He said, looking around her room and smiling at the tasteful arrangement of her table, with several traditional Hanukkah dishes and a beautiful silver Menorah right in the middle of it, in a position of honor so one could see from any position in her living room.

"Really?"

"Yeah. I've known for a while how much you missed celebrating the traditions of your people and I've imagined that just because you're an American citizen now it doesn't necessarily mean that you have to abandon your roots." He said, waving his hand in the air to make his point.

Ziva smiled brightly at him, making him loose his train of thought as he looked at her, gulping nervously as the way she was looking at him.

"You really think that?"

"Sure!" He said, gently guiding her with a hand on her back towards the table, studying the arrangement with curious eyes. "After all, being Jewish is a huge part of who you are. You wouldn't be you if you weren't you, and being you means being Jewish and…that's one of the things that _I_… I mean _we_… _we_ love about you." He frowned as he realized he was rambling.

"McGee," Ziva said gently, interrupting him before he dug a hole deeper for himself. He blushed and shut up. "Thanks."

He studied her face curiously, saying softly. "You're welcome."

They stayed like that, gazing at each other for a few seconds, until he realized he was still holding the brown bag in one of his hands. He blushed self consciously and offered her the bag.

"It's Kosher wine. I've been told that's supposed to be very good."

Ziva took the bag from his hands and delicately opened it, finding a well known brand of Kosher wine in it.

"Thanks, McGee."

He nodded and took the chance of looking at the Menorah, studying it curiously trying to figure it out. "So, how are we supposed to do this?"

Ziva smiled at him, let the wine bottle on the table and ran to the light switch, turning it off so the whole room fell into darkness, only the faint light of the street illuminated them in the room. She slowly approached McGee's side and lit a match, lighting the _Shamash_ candle on its candle holder.

McGee silently observed her movements, afraid to interfere in a centuries old ritual, which was being repeated throughout the world at that moment by thousands of people, just because they were supposed to remember a miracle which happened hundreds of years ago.

Once the _Shamash_ candle was lit, Ziva turned to him, her beautiful face illuminated only by the faint light of that single candle.

"Now we say the first and the second blessings of the Hannukah, then you light the candles one by one, from the left side to the right side."

"Okay, the blessings… Ah, I can't pronounce those words, I really…" McGee blushed, chagrined, but Ziva took his hands in her smaller ones and spoke out loudly the words she had heard throughout her childhood, finally remembering good times of her infancy as the foreign sounding words came naturally to her lips.

_Borukh Ato Adoynoy Eloyheynu Melekh Ho-oylom Asher Kiddeshonu Be-mitsvoysov Ve-tsivonu Lehadlik Neyr Shel khanuko._  
><em>Blessed are You, Lord our God, King of the universe, who has sanctified us by His commandments, and has commanded us to kindle the lights of Hanukkah.<em>

_Borukh Ato Adoynoy Eloyheynu Melekh Ho-oylom She-oso Nissim La-avoseynu Ba-yyomim Ho-heym Ba-zzman Ha-zze._  
><em>Blessed are you, Lord our God, King of the universe, who wrought miracles for our fathers in days of old, at this season.<em>

McGee moved his lips along with her, trying to follow her speech, but even his extensive research on the holiday was unable to grant him the fluency needed to pronounce those strange guttural sounds, clacking his tongue to speak the words that came naturally to Ziva's lips.

Once she was finished, she grinned, receiving a joyful grin in return. She took the _Shamash_ candle and gave it to McGee, giving him the honor to light the other candles.

"Ah… me?"

She nodded, smiling at him.

He bit his lower lip and gently touched the lit fire on the stick of the left-most candle, smiling as the first fire started to burn before his eyes. He glanced at her just to check if he was doing it all right, and he was elated to find her nodding approvingly at him.

With her approval, he slowly started to light the candles from left to right, stopping only when the eight candles were lit. While he did that, he was surprised to hear Ziva humming a song under her breath, before she started to sing in a soft alto voice a song which bespoke of miracles and wonders.

_Al hanissim ve'al haniflaot_  
><em>Al hatshu-ot ve'al hamilchamot<em>  
><em>She-asita la'avoteynu<em>  
><em>Bayamim hahem, bazman hazeh<em>  
><em>Al yedey kohanecha hakdoshim.<em>

_Vechol shmonat yemey Chanukah_  
><em>Hanerot halalu kodesh hem,<em>  
><em>Ve-ein lanu reshut lehishtamesh bahem<em>  
><em>Ela lirotam bilvad<em>  
><em>Kedai lehodot leshimcha<em>  
><em>Al nissecha veal nifleotecha ve-al yeshuotecha.<em>

_Translation_  
><em>We light these lights<em>  
><em>For the miracles and the wonders,<em>  
><em>For the redemption and the battles<em>  
><em>That you made for our forefathers<em>  
><em>In those days at this season,<em>  
><em>Through your holy priests.<em>

Mission accomplished, he stood up and put the _Shamash_ candle back on its own candleholder, admiring his work with a satisfied smile on his face.

Both stayed there, in the darkened room, illuminated only by the flickering lights for a while, enjoying the silence which fell over them. He was happy that his little endeavor had put a gentle smile on his friend's face, so he stayed in silence as she still hummed the song, one of her hands grasping his arm and squeezing it in thanks.

He gently touched her hand on his arm, smiling softly at the lights. He was touched when she leaned closer to him and, still humming, rested her head on his arm, in a side embrace that warmed his heart.

After a while, he chanced a glance down to her face, finding her brown eyed gaze studying him with a gentle smile on her lips. All restlessness which he usually associated with her was gone, as before his own eyes was just a beautiful woman humming a centuries old song in the comfort of her own home, genuinely happy.

That was exactly what he had been trying to achieve when he planned his little endeavor.

Seeing his satisfied smile, she sighed and got closer to him. "Why are you smiling like that?"

He kept his eyes on her face, becoming suddenly serious as he decided to risk everything in a single second. Ziva somehow must have sensed the change in the atmosphere, as her pupils dilated and she wetted her lips as he leaned his head and gently, oh, so gently, took her lips in a soft kiss, their breath barely mixing as he carefully worshiped her mouth with his lips.

She stood frozen for a second, before she took a deep breath and opened her mouth, inviting him in, an invitation that he gladly took. He lifted one of his hands and ran it through her hair, the silky strands gliding between his fingers as he opened his mouth and sank deeper into her delights.

Yet he kept his exploration light, keeping a tight leash on his desire as he gently tasted her for the first time, the light of the candles surrounding them of an almost dream-like atmosphere.

He forced himself to stop, taking a deep breath as he left her soft lips alone, giving enough distance between them so he could touch her forehead with his, as both breathed deeply trying to regain their calm and slower their thundering hearts.

He finally took the chance of opening his eyes, finding her awed gaze fixed on his face. He leaned his head to the side and looked around curiously. His action confused her, as she had no idea what he was looking for after such soulful kiss.

"What?"

He looked down at her, his gaze filled with joy and a love that took her breath away.

"The world didn't end."

She had to laugh at that.

"No, it didn't."

They hugged, turning to gaze at the flickering lights again, enjoying the atmosphere of the Hanukkah's candles, hearing in the distance a lonely violin skillfully playing a mourning melody in the night.

THE END

* * *

><p>an: This was short and sweet. I hope you've enjoyed this little tale.

Cheers!


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